Method of producing changing pictures



Aug. 13, 1929. RUSSELL 1,724,372

METHOD OF PRODUCING CHANGING PICTURES Filed May 9, 1925 LEGEND:- 3 -GLossy suRFAce 6 --0T GLOSSY, BUT OF A DlFFERENT sown 8- NOT awssy, aura;

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Patented Aug. 13, 1929.

UNITED sA-rs ATENT ()FFICE.

METHOD OF PRODUCING CHANGING PICTURES.

Application filed. May 9,

My invention relates to improvements in a method of producing a changing picture.

The object of my invention is to provide a 'method of producing a changing picture which shall consist of a field broken up into relatively small figures or patches, some of the said figures or patches in any given part of the field depicting one design in contrast between tones or colors, and other of the said figures or patches in the same part of the field depicting a different design in contrast between a dull surface and a glossy surface, and which method will not require unusually accurate registration of the successive printing impressions.

The type of picture to be produced by the method which constitutes the applicants said invention, is a picture on which one View is seen when the picture lies in a certain plane,

relative to the direction from which it is being observed, and the direction from which it is being illuminated, and in which a different view is seen when the picture lies in a different plane, with respect to the direction from which it is being observed, and the direction from which it is being illuminated. An application for a patent upon a picture of this kind was filed by me on July 20, 1928, under the title Changing pictures, Patent No. 1,579,249. Reference to the said application is hereby made.

Another object of my invention is to provide a method whereby pictures of the said type may be produced with the ordinary equipment of commercial printing or lithographing plants. Figure 1 represents the impression which is first printed on the card. Figure 2 shows the card with the-broken aluminum stripes, and looking at the same at such an angle that the impression shown in Figure 1 is depicted. Figure 3 is a similar view looking at the card from a different angle so that the figure stands out in full view.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be necessary first to describe briefly the action of the said type of pictures to which this invention relates, in order to make a description of the process intelligible. But I do not now in this application attempt to claim the said picture nor any feature thereof, nor do I attempt to claim generally the methods by which such a picture may be 1925. Serial No. 29,176.

produced. In fact, as will later be pointedout, it is a simple matter to produce a picture of this type by well-known processes involving no new invention, if the pattern into which the field; is divided be sufiiciently large.

Looking first then at Figure 3, which shows a completed picture that has been produced by the method that I have invented, the numeral 31 indicates the piece of paper or other material on which the picture has been printed. The numeral .32 refers to glossy or shiny stripes, which in the preoff. 7 is a circle which represents a ball resting on the top of the block. This circle is visible only in those parts of the field between the aluminum stripes. 8 represents a surface not glossy but of'the same color as the surface 32 and'is an annular portion of the field from which the aluminum stripes have been left off, which annular space is of approximately the same diameter as the said broken circle 7, but is located about half its diameter away from the rectangle, and said, ring will disappear when the stripes are high lighted.

The action is as follows: If viewed by the light is necessarily reflected away from the observer upon thatportion of the card which is not glossy, but that portion which is glossy, or in other words the aluminum light coming over the observers shoulder stripes will appear dull, and the breaks in them will not be noticeable because there will be no great difference either in hue or in brightness between the stripes and the spaces where the breaks in the stripes occur.

Therefore, the annular space 8 will not be seen as differing from the background. The rectangle 6 will be seen plainly because the rectangle printed in acolor different from the background. coincides with the space from which the stripes have been left off. The broken circle 7 will be seen because of the difference in color between the broken circle and the background between the aluminum stripes. If the stripes be sufliciently fine, it will actually appear as a complete circle. If the stripes be coarse, the imagination will to some extent carry the circle across them and give an impression, though not a perfect impression, of a circle. Viewed thus then, the picture will appear as a diagrammatical representation of a ball resting on a rectangular block. If now the picture be tilted so that the light is reflected directly into the observers eyes,

the dazzling effect of the aluminum stripes will be such that the observer will no longer be able to see the broken circle 7 but instead, he will see the annular space 8, which will be visible because little light is reflected from this space, whereas much light is reflected from the rest of the field. In other words, it will appear as a dark ring in a uniform high-light. The rectangle will remain visible because the aluminum stripes have been omitted from that too.

The observer will then appear to see the ball at a distance from the block. By tilting the picture alternately back and forth, the ball will appear first in one position and then in the other and will give the impression of a ball bouncing on a block.

While the spaces where the aluminum stripes are broken should be of such a color as to match the stripes when not in highlight, I find in practice that greenish gray is satisfactory. I The spaces between the stripes may be of any color desired. They do not, in order to produce the desired effect,

have to matchthe spaces that fill the breaks in the aluminum stripes. In fact, while the spaces that fill these breaks should be of a and if the dimensions be properly chosen,

does not seriously impair the effect.

The kind of picture, therefore, that is theoretically desirable to produce most vividly the effect of change, is a picture in which the field is divided into two sets of stripes, one set being covered with bright aluminum, except at such places as it is desired to show the lines of one view, and gray at these places where the aluminum stripes are broken, the other set of stripes being white, with the lines of the other view printed in black. There should theoretically, to produce the most vivid effect, he no aluminum and no gray on any part of the white stripes or the black lines, and likewise, there should be no white and no black on any part of the aluminum stripes or the gray spaces that fill the breaks in them. In other words, the two sets of stripes should be wholly distinct from and independent of each other. Such a result is comparatively easy to attain when the stripes are wide. It may be done by starting with background or stock of any one of the four colors, and printing on the other colors in any order desired, taking care only that the register be reasonably close. In order, however, to make the lines of the views appear to the eye to be continuous, and in order to show any small detail in a small picture, it is desirable to make the stripes extremely narrow. I find that in a picture three inches square, sixty lines to the inch will give good results, butthe lines may be much finer than this. Now, in order to produce such a picture as I have described, with the stripes as narrow as sixty to the inch, and without having any considerable part of any impression that is intended to be on one set of stripes overlap on the other set, calls for registration of the impressions more accurate than is practicable with any ordinary printing or lithographing press. It is to be observed that an error in registration of as much as half the width of a stripe would practically destroy the effect, and an error of much less than half the width of a stripe, would seriously impair the effect.

It will now be possible to understand the purposes of the present invention as stated above. Going back now to Figure 1, this figure represents the impression which is first printed on the card or other stock, in carrying out my invention. As shown, Figure 1 represents a proof taken from the etching or cut that would be used to print the first impression made in carrying out my process. The numeral 6 refers to a rectangle shown in solid lines, and representing the side elevation of a rectangular block. Numeral 7 refers to a circle, also shown in a solid continuous line, touching'the top of the rectangle, and representing a ball resting on the block.

Figure 2 shows the broken aluminum stripes, and represents a proof taken from the etching or cut that would be used to print these stripes, in carrying out my process. The numerals 32 refer to the stripes. Numeral 8 simply indicates an annular area throughout which the stripes are omitted. Numeral 9 indicates a rectangular figure throughout which the stripes have been omitted. In other words, the stripes are broken at such points that the breaks depict a circle at a little distance from a rectangle, and so represent diagrammatically a ball at'a little distance from a rectangular block. 7

To carry out my process then, I select a sheet of paper or other stock which will be as nearly as possible a match for the aluminum powder with which, in the preferred form shown, we propose to make the aluminum stripes, and which, as above stated, is preferably of a greenish-gray tone, and the surface of which is dull or flat. Instead of using aluminum powder, we may use bronze or other shiny powder or shiny ink or paint to produce the shiny stripes, or, as will be pointed out later, I may start with a shiny material as, for example, ordinary tinplate or sheet aluminum, and simply leave this material exposed. In any case, if I start with dull stock, its color should be such as to match the shiny stripes. Using commercial gilt powder, the stock should be a greenish yellow. Having selected stock of suitable color and dull surface, I next print on this stock the design shown in Figure 1, using dull surface ink, which maybe of any color difierent from that of the stock, but in the preferred form shown it is black. IVhen this ink has thoroughly dried, we next print on the stripes 32, which, in the preferred method described, is done by first applying sticky sizing from a plate or out such as would produce the design illustrated in Figure 2, and while this sizing is still wet, dusting it over with aluminum powder, and later dusting off the excess vpowder. This produces stripes that are both shiny and opaque, both of these qualities being essential for my process. It will be observed that if parts of the two views represent'the same object, and this object is supposed to remain stationary, it will be necessary to make the two impressions register with only such accuracy as is necessary to keep the observer from noticing a substantial change in position. The degree of accuracy required for this is much less than that which can easily be secured with even the crudest printing equipment. In the figures as drawn, the width of the stripes is greater than the thickness of the spaces that represent the objects depicted. If the stripes are actually made as wide as shown, then no difficulty about the printing arises, and the process that I have invented is not needed. The width of the stripes, however, is greatly exaggerated in the figures in order that the same may be plainly visible to the naked eye, whereas, the width of the spaces depicting the two views is not greatly exaggerated. In a picture of the size shown, the lines of the views might well be of the width shown, but the stripes would preferably be sixty or more to the inch, and each stripe would,

therefore, be perhaps a one-hundredth of an inch or less in width, depending on the relative width of the stripes, ascompared with the spaces between them. It will be observed that even with stripes as fine as sixty to the inch, no greater accuracy ofregistratlon than that above-mentioned is required if my process be used'that is, the registration need onlybe sufliciently accurate to make the rectangle appear in approximately the same position at all times. Because the circle 7 is continuous, and thegray background is uniform, it makes substantially no difference where the aluminum stripes fall. lVherever they fall, they will obscure those partsof the circle over which they pass, and will leave exposed the parts of the circle between the stripes,and these parts will appear black against lighter stripes. The surface exposed through the breaks inthealuminum stripes will be dull. It will, therefore,

.show everywhere in contrast to the highlight when the rest of the surface of the stripes is high-lighted, and it will not show by contrast with the aluminum when they are not high-lighted. \Vhcre lines of the two views cross or coincide, the View shown in Figure 1 will appear to have a dark spot in it. This is because the stripes of this view elsewhere are made up of uniformly spaced dots, whereas, at points where the lines of the two views coincide, there is a continuous black line throughout the whole distance during which the two'lines coincide. This is clearly seen in the case of the rectangle 6 in Figure 3. The effect in this case ismerely to make the rectangle look darker than the circle, suggesting that the black is made of a different material from that of. which the ball is made. This, in the present case, is not objectionable, and it may even be desirable. In some cases this effect is objectionable. It may be minimized by making the lines of both views thin so that the area of their intersections will be small.

Assuming now that'I desire to carry out my process starting with a piece of ordinary tinplate as the background or stock: I would print on this the design shown on Figure 1 in dull ink, preferably white. I would then print overthis the design shown in Figure 2 in dull opaque gray ink. This would produce substantially the same result as before except that circle 7 would show white against a darker background, and circle 8 would show as a more intensely high-lighted line against a less highly-lighted background, and the rectangle 7 would likewise in both cases show as lighter than its surroundings.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is 1. The process of producing a changing picture which consists in printing on a dull background a picture in continuous dull lines of a color different from that of the background, and then printing thereon shiny stripes, except at such points as lie on the lines of a second and different picture.

2. The process of printing a changing picture consisting in printing on a uniform background a picture in lines of a different color from, but of the same texture as the background, and afterward, printing over them a pattern in pigment'of a color substantially similar to that of the background, but of a texture different therefrom so far as concerns its power to reflect light, the pattern being broken at such points that the breaks outline a second and different picture.

3. The process of producing a changing picture which consists in printing on a dull background a picture in continuous dull lines of a color different from that of the background, and then printing thereon shiny opaque stripes, except at such points as lie on the lines of a second and different picture.

4. The process of printing a changing picture consisting in printing on a uniform background a picture in lines of a different color from, but of the same texture as the background, and afterward, printing over them a pattern in opaque pigment of a color substantially similar to that of the background, but of a texture different therefrom so far as concerns its power to reflect light, the pattern being broken at such points that the breaks outline a second and different picture.

5. The process of printing a changing picture which will show one View when observedby light falling on it from one direction, and a different view when observed by light falling on it from one direction, consisting in printing one of such views in continuous black lines on a solid gray background, and then covering parts of this background and those lines with opaque,

background a picture in dull lines of a different color from that of the background, and then printing thereon shiny stripes except at certain points to form a second and different picture.

7. The process of producing a changin picture, consisting in printing on a dull background a picture in dull lines of a dif- 'ferent color from that of the background, and then printing thereon shiny stripes to obliterate the first picture under high light except at certain points, to form a second and different picture under high-light on the shiny stripes.

8. The process of producing a changing picture, consisting in printing on a dull background a picture in dull lines of a different color from that of the background, and then printing over the entire back ground shiny stripes except at certain points to form a second and different picture under high-light on the shiny stripes.

9. The process of producing a changing picture, consisting in printing on a dull background a picture in dull lines of a different color from that of the background, and printing on the background on that portion of the picture to be obliterated shiny stripes except at certain points to form a second and different picture under highlight on the shiny stripes.

10. The process of producing a changing picture, consisting of printing on a dull background a picture in dull lines of a different color from that of the background, and printing over the entire background shiny stripes except at certain points which .form a second and different picture when the high-light is on the shiny stripes. I

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

HENRY M. RUSSELL. 

